(Ponyville)Textual Treasures - Grand Opening! (Open)

[RarityDash]

Rarity frowned a little as her inquiries to the mayor went unanswered as she hurriedly paid for her books and made her exit without looking her way. She sighed and then shrugged slightly. She supposed it was to be expected for such a busy and important mare to have to hurry off suddenly like this without the time to chat. She decided she wouldn't take this personally and just waved to her as she made her exit.

Her attention drifted back toward Ice and the others. Ice Storm proceeded to bring her attention to a rather regal looking stallion she introduced as Polaris. He was apparently somepony her friend had met in Canterlot. Fitting. He really looked like the Canterlot noble type. As he made his flowery, eloquent and perhaps a little overblown complimentary introduction, Rarity had to giggle slightly and blush. Some mare's might find such talk garish or overdone, but it was hard for a mare like Rarity to do anything but eat it up.

"Oh?" she gave another laugh, not quite sure what to say. "How delightfully charming of you, sir," she said becoming rather aggressively coy. "But I'm hardly somepony deserving of such reverent treatment. I'm but a simple small town dressmaker, not some handsome and esteemed member of Canterlot nobility like yourself."

She smiled to Ice and nodded. "You sure have a habit of picking fine friends," she said with a quiet laugh.

[Duchess]

“Hardly deserving?” Polaris nearly reared and whinnied in disbelief and dismay, only the years of etiquette lessons and good breeding keeping all four hooves firmly on terra firma. “My dear lady,” he reassured her quickly “-we could fete you through the streets pulled by...by pegasi covered in gold to the massed songs of the Canterlot Royal Opera choir in full bel-canto swing, for example, and it'd be only appropriate!” A pause, to let that sink in, a small smile and a gentling of the tone. “Take the greeting for what it is, hmm? From a titled pony who inherited everything to a mare who earned her accolades in adversity, it's expected – and quite, quite deserved, if I may say so.”

Another smile, this one mildly conspiratorial. “I wouldn't even dare to presume on the way you live your life, were I so inclined, but I do have to ask...a dressmaker, my lady? By any chance the esteemed proprietor of...Carousel Boutique, I think it's called? and therefore the elusive designer who's been filling out Hoity Toity's emporium in Canterlot as of late? If so, I hardly think anypony can consider you 'small-town', not when you're supplying one of the finest fashion houses in all of Equestria! The cost of Hoity originals is positively obscene, as I'm sure you're aware! Mind you, the outfits are generally masterpieces rather than awful warnings, so I suppose his prices are justified.”

Polaris tapped his hoof thoughtfully on his muzzle. “All that aside, and do correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure you made quite a splash in Canterlot society some while back, yes? I read something in the back copies of the Court circular about it when I came back from ambassadorial duties, you see. It's usually full of rubbish,” he confided. “Mostly of the: 'Lady So-and-So seen in the Rose Garden with Earl What's-his-name! Fifty-four pages of speculation and outright fabrication inside!' variety, but usually is the key word, and they do sometimes get close to the mark.”